


love will lead you back

by bevioletskies



Series: fic prompts & drabbles [16]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-14 14:09:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16914336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bevioletskies/pseuds/bevioletskies
Summary: “Some time ago, your sister snuck aboard my ship to kill me. And very nearly succeeded. What’s even more impressive is the fact she managed to get away before we could capture her. So...you see my dilemma.” His grip clamped around her entire midsection very suddenly; she felt the air leave her lungs, felt the crack of her ribs, leaving her gasping, burning up from the inside like the first time he’d taken her apart.“No!” Peter broke into a sprint, his blasters aimed straight for Thanos’s head, but before Gamora could warn him - and how could she, her vision starting to fade in and out, her brain slowly shuttering down, the only sensation left in her entire body being the clench of her fists - Thanos snatched him up in his other hand, and then they were falling...falling...falling…andoh, Gamora thought weakly,this might be the end.(Anonymous fic prompt: Canon-divergentInfinity Warin which Thanos tortured Peter instead of Nebula)





	love will lead you back

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title is from the song [Love Will Lead You Back](https://open.spotify.com/track/3HLgjHYaEhKFvV4SSvI9Te?si=A4egutzgQFuLkW8O9ZHOtw) by Taylor Dayne (which breaks my self-imposed rule of "no songs past 1988", but it was too fitting). Some parts of the dialogue are either directly taken from or a variation of dialogue from _Infinity War_. Warning for slightly graphic descriptions of torture.

“Let her go, Grimace!”

Gamora’s heart leapt in her throat helplessly at the sound of Peter’s voice, watching him emerge from behind the rubble with his blasters held high, the tremble in his hands betraying the confidence in his stride. She felt the grip on her back tighten impossibly further, vice-like and awful and reminiscent of a long ago, but never-forgotten childhood. “Peter.”

“I told you to go right,” he said urgently, and all Gamora could do was choke out an agonized, sobbing laugh.

“Now? Really?”

“You let her go!” Peter demanded once more, narrowing his eyes.

Thanos, however, looming over her like a shadow (though he’d already been weighing on her mind and soul for what felt like eternity), merely smiled. “Ah, the boyfriend.”

“Like to think of myself more as a Titan-killing, long-term booty call. _Let her go_.”

Gamora let out an exasperated noise. “Peter.” His eyes met hers again, a hesitation in his step. “Not him.” Peter faltered entirely, his arms slowly inching back down, ready to fall to his sides entirely. “You promised,” she said, alarmed to find her breath catching in her throat, stuck with a cry that was desperate to climb its way out. “You promised.”

“Oh, daughter. You expect too much from him.” Another hard yank, and for a moment, it felt like all her hair was being ripped out, right down to her roots. All she could do was let out a painful exhale, pleading to herself not to let it show on her face. “You expect too much from them all, these _companions_ of yours, these _Guardians_. What pleasure do you derive from protecting humanity from the inevitable, Gamora? What satisfaction do you gain out of your endeavors?”

“A purpose that belongs to me, and me alone.” Her voice shook as she spoke, her eyes still locked with Peter, frozen in the reminder of what he’d sworn to her not even an hour ago. “Responsibilities that motivate me far more than fear. And people who care more about who I am than what I can do.”

Thanos chuckled dryly. “And what would your dear Nebula have to say about that last one, daughter? What would she think if she were here?”

Gamora’s eyes widened, breaking eye contact with Peter to tilt her chin upwards in an attempt to look Thanos right in the eye, but to her dismay, it was now _he_ who was looking at Peter, his eyes hungry for something she’d been fearing for four years, something she’d had nightmares about since the moment she realized he and the other Guardians were going to be important to her, now manifesting right in front of her. “You’ve seen her.”

“Some time ago, your sister snuck aboard my ship to kill me. And very nearly succeeded. What’s even more impressive is the fact she managed to get away before we could capture her. So...you see my dilemma.” His grip clamped around her entire midsection very suddenly; she felt the air leave her lungs, felt the crack of her ribs, leaving her gasping, burning up from the inside like the first time he’d taken her apart.

“No!” Peter broke into a sprint, his blasters aimed straight for Thanos’s head, but before Gamora could warn him - and how could she, her vision starting to fade in and out, her brain slowly shuttering down, the only sensation left in her entire body being the clench of her fists - Thanos snatched him up in his other hand, and then they were falling...falling...falling…and _oh_ , Gamora thought weakly, _this might be the end._

Gamora woke up approximately what felt like years later, finding herself laid out unceremoniously across a damp, ice-cold floor. She struggled to push herself up into a sitting position, still dizzy from asphyxiation, blinking blearily into the shadowed light. It didn’t take long for her to realize exactly where she was and what had happened, only for her field of vision to be interrupted by Thanos kneeling in front of her, holding out a bowl in a mock peace offering. “I thought you might be hungry.”

With the last ounce of strength she had left, she knocked it clean out of his hands across the room, her breath coming in short from the effort. “Of all the places to bring me...you knew I hated this room. This ship. I _hated_ my life.”

“So I’ve been told. Every day...for twenty years,” he said bitterly, moving to sit on the steps of his throne. Gamora slowly turned herself around to face him, wincing at the way her bones ached. “The hours you spent - no, the hours you _wasted_ \- telling me I was wrong for saving you when your planet was on the brink of collapse. How do you feel now, knowing they know nothing but full bellies and clear skies?”

“I feel the same as I did before.” She inhaled, trembling. “That you’re insane.”

“This universe is finite, its resources finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It _needs_ correction,” he growled.

“You don’t know that!” she shouted.

“I’m the _only_ one who knows that. At least, I’m the only one with the will to _act_ on it.” He got to his feet, moving closer, standing above her like he did before, casting her in darkness like he’d always done, like he always would. “For a time, you had that same will, daughter.”

“I am not your daughter,” Gamora said derisively. “Everything I hate about myself, you taught me.”

“And yet, here you are, the deadliest woman in the galaxy. The only one who I trusted to find the Soul Stone.” Thanos extended his arm, slowly rotating it around until the Infinity Gauntlet was undeniably in front of her face, obscuring her view of everything else. Every last Stone glowed blindingly, tauntingly, with the exception of one.

She glared up at him, her eyes cold. “Then I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“I am disappointed. But not because you didn’t find it.” He leaned down beside her, his breath ghosting over her ear, whistling through her hair. She shivered. “But because you did. And you _lied_.”

Thanos roughly grabbed her by the wrist and yanked, dragging her along behind him. She snarled, beating her fist again his ironclad grip, resulting in nothing but her own bloody knuckles and a hoarse throat. They made their way down a damp corridor to a room she unfortunately knew too well, the doors shuttering open to reveal -

“No,” Gamora gasped.

“And just think, if he had kept his Celestial genetics, if he realized that his precious power he so carelessly threw away could save him...we wouldn’t be here, daughter. _He_ wouldn’t be here."

Peter was suspended in the air by a series of electrified cables, a form of torture oddly ancient, raw, and sadistic, even for someone of Thanos’s intentions and means, that dug deep into his skin, searing red hot welts into his body. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, his eyes half-lidded, mouth falling open further and further with every labored breath he took. Thanos flung Gamora forward like she was a mere ragdoll, and she immediately ran to Peter, stumbling over her own feet, cupping his face in her hands. “Peter.”

“Gamora,” he said breathlessly. “Fancy...meetin’ you here.”

She let out a noise she didn’t recognize, somewhere halfway between a laugh and a sob. “You’ve got a terrible sense of humor.”

“Won... _you_ over...didn’t it?” he chuckled, his chest heaving, rattling ominously. “Don’t...tell him.”

“What?”

“He’s gonna...but you don’t...don’t tell him. Don’t you tell him a damn thing.” He smiled almost deliriously, like he was beginning to lose oxygen, or rather, that he’d _been_ losing oxygen for a long time now. “You got this, Gamora. I...I know you do.”

It was then that she felt a hand on her shoulder. She automatically stepped back, reluctantly withdrawing her hands from Peter’s alarmingly cold face, though she fixed her gaze on the floor, refusing to look up. “I swear to you on my life...on _his_ life...I never found the Soul Stone.”

“Are you certain, daughter?” A hum resonated through the room, so searingly loud she felt her teeth clatter, and with a flash of red light, Peter suddenly fell limp, his last breath coming out as a subdued whimper.

Gamora let out a blood-curdling scream, something so feral she barely recognized it had come from her own throat. She turned to grasp wildly at the Gauntlet, sucking in her breath, willing herself not to let the hot tears that burned in her eyes fall. “ _Please_.”

Another flash of light, this time a sickly green, and Peter jerked to life once more, panting heavily; he could barely lift his head by this point. “Tell me again, Gamora.” She heard the click of Thanos’s jaw as he spoke. “Say it to my face.”

“I speak the truth...Father.” Gamora swallowed down the bile that was rising in her throat, lifting her chin to meet his violet gaze. “And this time, I want my ignorance to be your downfall.”

Thanos’s lip curled; he stepped back and released her, circling her like she was his prey. “You’re strong...me. You’re generous...me. But I never taught you to lie. That’s why you’re so _bad_ at it.” Another hum, accompanied by the red light, and all Gamora could do was inhale her own voice before she could cry out again. “Where is the Soul Stone?”

Her eyes went to Peter’s lifeless body, lacking the wit, the light, the movement she’d grown to love so much. She had to fight back the urge to go to him, take his hands in hers, search for a pulse that she knew was no longer there. “We could live in this loop for infinity, Father,” she said, her voice thin. “Or you could choose to believe me.”

“You could have redeemed yourself in my eyes, you know.” Thanos continued to pace. “Four years ago, you betrayed me. You walked away from everything you’d ever known for people you barely trusted. But the moment you learned of his immortality, his _power_ , you could have brought him to me. I would have let him live. I would have even let you be together, if he became part of our cause.” The green light nearly blinded her, and Peter once again found himself gasping for air, every inch of his body burning from the inside.

“Your cause,” Gamora sneered. “Never mine, never Nebula’s, never those who you _stole_ from their homes, that you ripped every last piece of their humanity from, leaving them empty, leaving _us_ empty. Just _your_ cause. Your sick, twisted cause.”

“Remember your life by my side, daughter?” Thanos asked like he hadn’t heard her. “I fed you, clothed you, raised you into greatness. _Saved_ you from the fate of your planet. Do you think you would stand a chance against the galaxy if I hadn’t done so? What would your life be then?”

“ _My_ life?” Gamora finally turned on her heel to face him, her eyes darkening. “All _my_ life, I dreamed of a day, a moment, where you would get what you deserved. And I was always so disappointed. But now, you kill, and torture, and you call it mercy. And now I stand before you, and I _do_ know something you don’t. You’re asking me to tell you...and _I’m_ telling you...no.”

“You defy me, daughter?” Thanos growled.

“I already have. And now, I always will, with every last day that I have left. My only hope is that my days will outlast yours.” His fist clenched once more, and she squeezed her eyes shut, not sure if she could face the red light again, but then -

All Gamora could hear was a thundering, earth-shattering crash, then a ringing that echoed in her ears, melting into a high-pitched frequency that made her cry out; it took her a moment to even realize she’d been thrown to the ground. Peter was flung down beside her, the cables having been yanked right out of their reinforcements from the sheer force of the explosion, though they were still wound about his wrists and ankles. Then, there was silence, soon broken by a violent cough that rattled around in Peter’s chest; they were both covered in a thick layer of ash.

“Are you okay?” she whispered urgently. He reached over to squeeze her hand in silent reassurance, smiling weakly. Relieved, she crawled closer to bring her forehead to his, finally allowing one single tear to fall as she squeezed her eyes shut in meditative serenity, then turned away so she could look towards the source of the sound. Gamora groaned when she realized what had happened. “Nebula always _did_ have a taste for the dramatic.”

Nebula emerged from the pod that she’d crash-landed upon Thanos’s head, wielding her electroshock batons above her head, though it was more of a stance of anticipation than a stance of victory. Several unknown figures burst through the hole she’d created, along with, to Gamora’s elation, Drax and Mantis, both seemingly unharmed. “Gamora!” Mantis exclaimed. “Peter! Oh, it is so good to see you’re both okay!”

“Okay...is a subjective term,” Peter rasped, struggling to stand. Gamora followed, tucking herself underneath his arm to steady him. “Who the hell are these guys?”

“We’re the Avengers, man,” one of them said; he sounded worryingly young. “I’m - ”

“No time for pleasantries, he’s getting up!” Nebula snapped. The others encircled the pod, watching apprehensively, weapons drawn at the ready. Suddenly, Thanos came roaring back to life, his voice raw with anguish, throwing the metal scrap clear across the room like it weighed nothing.

“Nebula,” he snarled. “What - ”

In a flurry of activity that Gamora’s oxygen-deprived brain still had trouble comprehending, everyone sprung into action, pinning Thanos down by various means she couldn’t even begin to understand, calling out orders to each other like they’d rehearsed it a thousand times over. One particular man made a strange movement with his hands, almost like a spell of sorts, and Mantis fell right through the floor like it was nothing, only to reappear right above Thanos’s head and drop down onto his shoulders. She wound her legs tight around his neck until he was gasping, dug her fingernails into his temples until he began to bleed. His eyes rolled back, mouth falling open like he was in a trance. The young one and another who appeared to be a metal humanoid went for the Gauntlet, bickering lightly as they slowly, but surely eased it off Thanos’s forearm.

Peter limped his way over, yanking one of his gravity mines out of his utility bag and clipping it onto Thanos’s belt. It immediately and quite literally brought him to his knees, hunched over and heaving like Peter had been not five minutes ago. “He’s all yours,” Peter said lowly, taking a step back.

Speechless, Gamora turned to Nebula. “You’re here,” she breathed. “Nebula, you - ” Overwhelmed, Gamora flung her arms around her sister, and was surprised to find her returning the gesture immediately, far less stiff than the last time - the _first_ time - they’d hugged four years ago. Less surprisingly, Nebula broke the embrace first, though there was almost a hint of a smile in her usually cold eyes. Gamora peeled back her glove to reveal the small device hidden in the palm of her hand, chuckling disbelievingly. “I always said the distress signal would be of use someday. You never believed me.”

“Are you singing your own praises, sister?” Nebula said dryly. “I should expect nothing less.”

“It’s just...it’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you, more than I thought I ever would. And here you are...you came back for me.”

“Don’t exaggerate, I’m here for _him_.” Then, smaller, Nebula mumbled under her breath so lowly that Gamora could barely hear her. “But also...maybe.”

Gamora looked to Peter who was clutching his sides, looking battered and worn, but mercifully alive. “Peter?”

“I’m okay,” he wheezed. “Let’s put this asshole in the ground already.”

She laughed softly, turning back to Nebula. “Are you ready?”

“I have waited too long for this moment.” Nebula paced menacingly towards Thanos, drawing one of her electroshock batons out. “Do you have any final words for our father before we strike him down?”

Gamora came to a stop in front of Thanos as well, her lip curling with disdain. She unsheathed her sword. “I’ve said all I need to say. Now...it’s _your_ turn.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wanted to write a fic exploring Peter and Gamora's internal dialogue throughout the Knowhere scene, so this prompt felt like a good reason to get there! I left the ending a little bit open since I'm sure you'd all love to imagine your own ways of how exactly Gamora and Nebula knock Thanos down for good (I certainly know exactly what I want for _Avengers: Endgame_ , hint hint).
> 
> I'm currently taking Scott/Hope fic prompts, and you can read this fic on [tumblr](https://bevioletskies.tumblr.com/post/181122940609/heres-a-petergamora-infinity-war-au-prompt-what) if you'd like! Thanks so much for reading, comments and kudos would be much appreciated, and I hope you enjoyed :)


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